Is it too much to expect MMA fighters to attend the biggest MMA events? Obviously, not! But the UFC Freedom 250 card didn’t get that memo, at least according to former two-division champion Conor McGregor. So, ‘The Mac’ decided to call out UFC CEO Dana White over a lack of MMA legends in the event on Sunday night. 

“Strange how not one MMA legend at the fights tonight, yet a load of little ‘scared of an MMA fight’ boxers were,” McGregor wrote on X. 

While ‘The Notorious’ had a point about the lack of MMA legends in attendance, there were MMA legends at the event. But not as guests. Georges St-Pierre cornered Aiemann Zahabi, and Alexander Volkanovski cornered Mauricio Ruffy. And it wasn’t as if the event was overflowing with stars from boxing. According to reports, Tyson Fury was present at the event, staged in front of some 4,300 spectators. 

Joining him were WWE personalities Roman Reigns, Triple H, Shane McMahon, and WWE President Nick Khan. The NFL was represented by Maxx Crosby, while NHL stars Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk also made appearances. Comedian Shane Gillis was another notable attendee. Beyond those names, however, the event lacked the celebrity power many had anticipated. 

High-profile figures such as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Adam Sandler, Jared Leto, and Mario Lopez reportedly declined invitations to attend. Despite the presence of St-Pierre and Volkanovski, McGregor remained unimpressed by the absence of MMA greats at the historic event. And rightfully so. His frustration led to him clashing with Terence Crawford on X. 

“This [is] the guy that said he would knock me out and whoop me and Shakur at the same time?😂😂😂,” Crawford wrote, reacting to Topuria’s upset loss to Justin Gaethje. 

“What the f–k are you saying?” McGregor wrote back. “You can wrestle, yet you are afraid of an MMA fight. That, to me, is pitiful. The kid was beaten in an MMA fight, which you don’t have the courage for. What the f–k was with all these little boxers at this show yet no MMA fighters?”

McGregor was also not happy about Roman Reigns attending the event. 

“Who?” he asked on X, reacting to a post from TKO Group about Reigns’ presence at the White House event. 

“The platforming of our athletes within the business was not capitalised on enough in my opinion,” he later added. “I don’t know who the f–k these guys are that have never fought MMA yet were visibly all over the show.”

The reason Conor McGregor couldn’t spot MMA greats or even legends was simply that it was invite-only. Tickets were distributed to military service members, Donald Trump, Dana White, and TKO Group. And it should have been obvious from what happened to Sean Strickland and Tom Aspinall. 

Conor McGregor is realizing Sean Strickland’s pain

Well before the event got underway, UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland claimed that top UFC officials had barred him from attending because of his criticism of the Trump administration. While Dana White later clarified that ‘Tarzan’ was not banned but simply not invited, the explanation raised more questions than it answered. 

After all, there appeared to be plenty of room for athletes and celebrities from other sports, yet several prominent UFC fighters were left out of the list of invitations. And Strickland was not the only high-profile name left off the guest list. Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall also did not receive an invitation. 

He will likely be the next opponent for the winner of the co-main event between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane. For an event billed as the UFC’s biggest spectacle in history, the lack of representation from the promotion’s own roster was difficult to ignore. The couple of MMA personalities who did attend were there because they were working corners rather than as invited guests. 

The optics suggested that the UFC placed greater value on celebrity appearances and its relationship with Donald Trump than on showcasing the fighters who helped build the promotion. Whether intentional or not, the event left the impression that the UFC’s own athletes were secondary to the broader political and promotional narrative surrounding the night.